Sparse snowpack may lead to increased wildfire danger in the months ahead for San Diego County.<\/p>\n
SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. \u2014 California is heading out of winter with one of its lowest snowpack levels on record, raising concerns among experts about an extended and potentially more dangerous wildfire season, even in regions like San Diego County.<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s snowpack, which serves as a crucial water source during the warmer months, is now sitting at just a fraction of its average after a dry, unusually warm end to winter.<\/p>\n
Meteorologists say persistent high-pressure systems played a major role in the shortfall.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the storm tracks have been pushed north, well north of us, and we\u2019ve been under extreme high pressure for this time of year,\u201d said Ivory Small with the National Weather Service in San Diego.<\/p>\n
That same high-pressure system also brought record heat in March, accelerating snowmelt and further reducing already limited snowpack.<\/p>\n
\u201cBest way to put it is horrible,\u201d Small said. \u201cFrom what I understand, it\u2019s down around 10 to 20 percent of normal, which is terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n
The impacts go beyond water supply. Snowpack helps regulate how quickly vegetation dries out in spring and summer. With less snow, plants and grasses dry earlier, creating more fuel for wildfires.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we\u2019ve seen over the past couple years, we truly are in a year-round fire season,\u201d said Robert Johnson with CAL FIRE\/San Diego County Fire.<\/p>\n
Recent warm temperatures are already drying out brush across San Diego County, though officials say vegetation moisture levels have not yet reached critical levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce the moisture gets below the 60 percent level, that increases the potential for a large and damaging fire in the event that there is a fire ignition,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n
With peak fire season approaching, officials are urging residents to take steps now to protect their homes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge residents to continue to maintain that defensible space around their homes,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThat\u2019s going to provide them with a much-needed barrier from their house to a potential oncoming wildfire.\u201d<\/p>\n
That includes clearing dead brush, removing flammable materials, and being cautious when doing yard work that could spark a fire.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want people to maintain that defensible space. We just don\u2019t want them to do the right thing at the wrong time,\u201d Johnson added.<\/p>\n
While additional storms could still improve conditions, experts warn that without meaningful rain or snowfall in the coming weeks, California may face an earlier start to wildfire season with heightened activity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sparse snowpack may lead to increased wildfire danger in the months ahead for San Diego County. SAN DIEGO…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-250938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}